Thursday, June 17, 2010

Bottle nursing your baby...

Yesterday, I had this conversation with my best friend about breastfeeding and bottle feeding.(she bottle fed her baby breastmilk and then organic formula) I am pro-breastfeeding, exclusively for extended period of time. I really don't need to post the WHOLE list of benefits but just say, it's best for mom, baby, society, and the overall health of all people for LIFE. As a La Leche League Leader *in training* it's so very important to me that people are educated on the issue as well. Last weekend, we went to a party and there were many babies, toddlers, and pregnant women around me. And I L-O-V-E all of those!!!! As I sat down to nurse Xander, I overheard a conversation that left me in shock!!! A woman says to a pregnant lady, "It's so not chic to have a baby hanging from you so that breastfeeding stuff is not for me." I am sure she did not know that I am or was about to nurse my baby. But all around me I saw bottle fed babies being passed from one person to the next. It was a full out game of "pass the baby."

Now I am pro-breastfeeding and will tell anyone who wants to listen why and how awesome I think it is. When I had my first, Jayden, there wasn't any other option for me. I never even thought about formula and really not even about bottles. We had a tough time with low milk supply, thrush, and inconsistent nurse times. But we push through and made it to 18 months, where my milk dried up from pregnancy and inconsistent nursing, and then even still sometimes a blue moon he asks to "nurse too."

HOWEVER
Just because I am a breastfeeding mama and support it completely, I AM NOT against bottle feeders. I would like to think that some person 100 years ago with good intentions created formula (or just gave their child goat or cow's milk) to help mothers who had a truly hard time breastfeeding or for women who adopted their children (Although I know it was a conspiracy to sicken for profit, and make lifetime patients of our itty bitty's). I would also like to think that most women AT LEAST try to breastfeed their babies and realize you CAN do other things at the same time. I do believe it's your child so it's your choice what you do. I also believe that many formula feeding mom's are in the dark of the health issues that come along with. Different topic. My point is that go ahead, bottle feed your baby. FINE!!!! But there is such a thing as "BOTTLE NURSING" your baby.

Babies NEED, CRAVE, DESIRE to be held close. To look into the eyes of their mommy. To smell her and feel her. It is a seriously intimate and beautiful experience. I have come to realize that breastfeeding is the only way women in our culture are experiencing this. And look around you!!!!!!!!!!! Who's breastfeeding??? Sad, huh? You CAN achieve that intimate bond while bottle feeding. When did it become the social norm to use formula because you want to be able to pass your child off on someone else?? THERE IS WHERE MY ISSUE LIES!!!!!! Do animals pass their young off to their friends' den, "Will you watch little Cub tonight? Here is his bottle and pacifier just in case." No! We are the only "things" on this earth that do that. The Bible says, "Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness." Lamentations 4:3

There is a purpose for formula. Some of my dearest friends formula fed their precious little blessings but for issues that surpassed just wanting to be able to leave their children. I AM NOT AGAINST YOU FORMULA FEEDING MAMAS!!! But please don't be against me either. I am tired of the stares and comments behind my back. Even the comments to my face! I suppose end times certainly are near as Jesus said, ""How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days." Matthew 24:19 Hate and judgment is upon us in the worst kind of way. I am tired of mothers being afraid to publicly nurse their babies because someone might say something to them or they will become the social pariah. God gave us the amazing ability to make the RIGHT milk to nourish our babies and bond with them. I don't think when He made man and woman in His image, that He ever thought someone would take His perfect design of the breast and make an artificial one to artificially pacify and nourish His miracles. Some people work so hard to get pregnant and buy all of the fanciest things but neglect to MOST important of all that is totally FREE!!!!

Just as you (formula feeders) have the right to choose how to feed your baby, so do I and other breastfeeding moms. And if you are out there, on the fence about what to do, RESEARCH, INVESTIGATE, BE INFORMED, and then make a decision that is best for you. But please, please, please, look into getting and reading, "The Ministry of Parenting Your Baby" by Dr. Sears. That book revolutionized my thinking on parenting and what it means to really PARENT your baby. People will say, "oh, your baby is a mama's boy," or "he is so spoiled." As babies and toddlers, why do we want our babies to leave us? Do we want them to run into on coming traffic to prove that our babies ARE NOT mama's boys???? Of course not!!! But it is so foreign in our society and culture to have children that are bonded, they are dubbed as "mama's boys/girls." And children do not spoil....meat spoils!!!!!

Breastfeeding was designed for the whole package: baby benefits, mom benefits, society benefits, the world benefits. Formula feeding was designed for a basic package: mom benefits. However, when babies are BOTTLE NURSED, a deluxe package is created in that: mom benefits, baby benefits and society reaps a bit of those benefits. Although, there are still RISKS to formula feeding that we do not yet know the extent of but that start is to BOTTLE NURSE your little miracle and YOU, mom, be the only one to nurse your baby. Whether with breast or a bottle that looks like a breast!

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